Improved method of fixing pigments to fibrous and textile materials



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ALFRED PARAF, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 99,105, dated J mruary 25,1870.

IMPROVED METHOD OF FIXING- PIG-MEN'IS TO IIBROUS AND TEXTILE MATERIALS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LALFRED PARAF, of France, now residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have made an invention of a new and useful Method of Fixing Pigments and other Coloring-Matters to Fibrous and Textile Materials; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

It has long been known that pigments may be fixed to fibrous and textile materials, by means of egg-albumen or blood-albumen, by compounding the coloringmateri-al with the albumen, printing the article with the compound, and afterward steaming the printed article, to coagulate the albumen, and thus fix the color to the article. The cost, however, of egg-albumen is so great that this method of printing fabrics cannot be practised with advantage, while the employment of blood-albumen does not fix the colors sutficiently for ordinary use.

Other kinds of albuminous materials, such as lactarine, have long been known, and attempts have been made to substitute them for egg-albumen in printingoperations, but these attempts have thus far been unsuccessful, because such other albuminous materi: is are not rendered insoluble in water and soap-solutions, by the operation of steaming the fabric after printing, and no other means has been known of acting upon the material after printing, so as to render it insoluble, and thereby fix the pigment or other coloring-material in the cloth.

The object of the invention, which constitutes the subject of the present 'patent, is to enable a lowerpriced albuminous material, such as laetarine, to be substituted for egg-albumen, for the purpose of fixing pigments or other coloring-materials to fabrics; and

The invention consists of the process of applying the coloring-material to the article to be printed or dyed, in connection with laotarine and a salt of lime, (or its equivalent for this purpose,) which will decompose after the coloring-material has been applied to the article, and permit the lime to act upon the lactarine, and render it practically insoluble in water, and such solutions of soap as are used for washing textile fabrics.

The salt which has been found to be best suited to the purpose to be accomplished, is the saccharate of lime, or the suchrate of lime; which may be conveniently prepared as follows, viz:

Dissolve five pounds of sugar, (eitherbrown or white,) in one gallon of water. Boil the solution, and while it is boiling-add to it fi'eshly-slaked lime, as long as the latter will dissolve, Permit the solution to cool, and any nndissolvcd lime to settle. Then deoant the clear solution of suchrate of lime The lactarine to be used must be dissolved in water. This may be done as follows, viz:

Mix one and one-fourth pound of lactaririe with a gallon of water, and add a sufficient quantity of an alkali or of an alkaline salt, to cause the lactarine to dissolve in the water. The salt which has been found best suited to this purpose isborax, orborateof soda, and the quantity required is about two ounces for the aforesaid quantity of lactarine, a slight excess being not hurtful.

To print cloth with any pigment, the preferable mode is to compound the pigment with the solution of lactarine, and with the solution of suchrate of lime, and then to print with the compound in the usual mode practised for printing fabrics, and by the usual means. In proceeding upon this plan, the pigment or other coloring-matter is mixed with the aforesaid solution of the lact-arine, in quantities suited to the depth of tint required to be printed; then, to each gallon of the mixture, the solution of suchrate of lime isadded progressively, until the desired consistency for printing is attained. The quantity of the solution of suchrate of lime required for this purpose varies with the pigment or coloring-material used. It, for example, the coloring-material be ultramarine blue, one quart of the solution is sufiicient for each gallon of the said mixture. If the colorin g-material be chrome-orange, three-fourths of a quart of the solution are sufiicient.

The mixture is a compound suitable for printing fabrics such as calico and muslin. In making this compound, care must be taken .to use a sufficient quantity of the solution of the suchrate, the eifect of the application of the first portions of the solution being. to'render the compound too thick for use; but as the mixture is stirred, and additional portions of the solution are added, the compound becomes thinner; and

the addition of the solution, and the stirring of the compound are eontiliued until the compound attains the desired consistency.

The fabric is printed with the compound in the usual manner, but it has been found expedient to have the cloth in a damp state at the time it is printed. The dampening of the cloth may be effected by sprinkling it with water, rolling it up, and permitting the cloth to lie in the roll until the dampness spreads. through it, which generally requires from two to four hours.

After the cloth is printed, it may at once be steamed. This operation maybe performed in the usual manner practised in calico-print works, and generally requires the application of the steam for from thirty to forty minutes, according to the heaviness of the pattern printed, the steam being at a pressure of from four to five pounds to the square inch above the atmosphere. The practical effect of the steaming is to cause the lime .to act upon the lactarine, and render it insoluble, so that the coloring-material is fixed to the cloth. After the steaming has been effected, the cloth may be washed or not, as found expedient, and it may be finished or put up for sale in any way deemed expedient.

Another albuminons material which possesses the property of being rendered insoluble by the action of lime and the steaming, and which does not injure the cloth, or the pigment, or other coloring-material, may be used in place of lactarine; and another salt, which does not act upon the albuminous material, to fix it until after the printing is effected, may be used in place of the suchrate'of lime. The lime may be made to act upon the lactarine, by hanging the printed cloth in an ageing-room, such as is commonly used in print-works but as the operation is much slower than it is when the printed cloth is steamed, it is not recommended.

What is claimed as the invention to be secured by Letters Patent, is-- lhe' process hereinbefore described of fixing colorin g-material to fibrous and textile materials, by means of albuminous material, and a salt of lime, substantially as before set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my hand, this 13th day of November, A. D. 18695 ALFRED PARAF.

Witnesses W. SPRAGUE, A. G. PAINE. 

